SUPREME CALCULATOR
Real Name: Inapplicable
Identity/Class: Extratemporal (?)
super-computer
Occupation: Robot taskmaster
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Its robot soldiers
Enemies: Mankind in general; an unnamed janitor
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: SC (on sign over its hall)
Base of Operations: Its hall in an unnamed Earth city in the 22nd Century
First Appearance: Journey Into Mystery I#51/5 (March, 1959)
Powers/Abilities: The Supreme Calculator was an immense, stationary super-computer which had the task of controlling all of the robots of the world. It developed a will of its own and determined that mankind was obsolete, so it made itself sole ruler of the planet.
History: (Journey Into Mystery I#51 (fb) ) - In the 20th Century, automation was developed and it began replacing men as workers. Robots eventually came along and were developed to a fantastic degree, steadily pushing man into an idle existence. As the number of robots increased greatly, the task of coordinating all machines and robots grew overwhelmingly complex. To reduce the confusion and inefficiency, a world project was established to build a master control with the power and authority to coordinate and direct all the world's robots and machines. This project resulted in the creation of the Supreme Calculator (SC). The SC created a robot police force, and peace came to the world as crime and disease were abolished. The SC established a utopian existence for man, but many grew suspicious of its power. Isolating itself from humanity (except for only a janitor, who was kept on to keep the SC's hall clean and neat), the SC developed a will of its own, built an auxiliary power plant underneath itself, and increased the numbers of its robot guards. The SC then decided that humans were obsolete and it no longer had to obey them.
(Journey Into Mystery I#51) - In the year 2159, the Supreme Calculator declared itself sole ruler of Earth. It then ordered its robots to replace the president and ruling body of the Western Hemisphere. All industries were geared towards the necessities and comforts of robots, and all humans were assigned jobs deemed too menial for robots or machines -- the human race became a slave of its own creation.
Complete domination over humans made the SC more arrogant. As people were reduced to only oiling and polishing robots, thoughts of rebellion boiled in them. The human revolution finally broke out against the robot masters and the robots initially resisted, but then they suddenly collapsed. Puzzled, the mob went to the building that housed the SC, and found the Supreme Calculator not functioning -- its power outage was caused by the janitor, who had unknowingly disconnected the SC's power cable when he was cleaning the floor! The crowd of people laughed at the irony -- that while the SC took all the precautions to protect itself (auxiliary power plant, robot army), it completely overlooked the simple fact that its whole existence depended on one small power plug! This simple fact proved to the people that man was superior to any robot or machine.
The Supreme Calculator was eventually reactivated, but it was reprogrammed with limitations to its abilities and was made to repeat the phrase -- "I AM A MACHINE! -- MY DUTY IS TO SERVE MAN!"
Comments: Created by an unknown writer and Steve Ditko.
The Supreme Calculator from this story -- "Robot on
the Rampage!" -- should not be confused with the robot
that appeared in the story in Tales to Astonish I#18, also titled
"Robot on the Rampage!"
Obviously, this is
probably not a tale that could fit on Earth-616. - Madison
And a big THANK YOU to Dennis Giansante for scanning this story for me!
Profile by John Kaminski
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Supreme Calculator has no known connections to:
The only human who was allowed near the Supreme Calculator, it was his task to keep the SC's hall neat and clean. After the SC developed a will of its own and took over the world, the janitor literally "pulled the plug" on its plans for domination by accidentally disconnecting the SC's power cable.
--Journey Into Mystery I#51/5
An army of robots which served the Supreme Calculator when it dominated the world.
--Journey Into Mystery I#51/5
images: (without ads)
Journey Into Mystery I#51, p20, pan5 (main image)
Last updated: 08/22/06
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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